Christmas Carneddau

It’s not often I head into the hills without any previously unclimbed summits as targets, but this was one of those rare days.  My club had organised a day out in the northern Carneddau and had touched lucky with quite good weather following the country’s battering by Storm Eva over Christmas – it was the only day that was forecast to have a lull in summit windspeeds.

We started from Abergwyngregyn and walked up the road to the North Wales Path, following it eastwards before turning right up the track that led to the summit of Drum.  I’ve rarely reached any hill as easily as this, with the sun shining and no wind.

The ridge to Foel-fras was a different matter and my post-Christmas fitness was sorely tested.  I slowed down significantly and reached the top quite some time after the rest of the group.  From here though, it was mostly downhill all the way.  We descended to the col below Llwytmor and walked up the short rise to the summit which was a new Nuttall for me.

I had hoped to tick Llwytmor but wasn’t necessarily expecting it as walking with a group tends to lead to a route defined either by “follow-my-leader” or consensus.  With today’s company I would have been happy with just getting out on some high summits – which I hadn’t visited for over 27 years!

From the summit a spiked tor beckoned us to the far side of the plateau before we avoided Llwytmor Bach in the increasing wind and decided to take a beeline to the Afon Goch above Aber Falls.  The path to the side of the falls needed some care to traverse as the tributaries made the exposed rock somewhat slippery but after what turned out to be the crux of the route, the easy path led us back to the road for the last mile to the car park.